Federal government is discussing the creation of a state company to regulate its mineral extraction industry and provide funding for local businesses. Africa’s second biggest economy has sizable untapped deposits of metals, including gold, zinc, lithium and iron ore. But nearly all extraction is done by so-called artisanal miners on a small-scale or manual basis, which means that the government misses out on tax revenue. “The proposed corporation will seek and secure partnership-investment agreements with big multinational companies worldwide,” Dele Alake, minister of solid minerals, told a briefing in Abuja on Sunday. The new body would aim to secure “massive…

President Bola Tinubu has directed the recall of all career and non-career ambassadors serving in different countries. Yusuf Tuggar, minister of foreign affairs, announced the decision barely 24 hours after the president recalled Sarafa Isola, Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK). In a statement on Saturday by Alkasim Abdulkadir, Tuggar’s adviser on media and communications strategy, the minister said the recall of Isola on Friday was applicable to all ambassadors. In a letter dated August 31, the minister said Tinubu had recalled Isola and asked him to return to Nigeria by October 31 at the latest, after taking…

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered outside a French military base in Niger's capital Niamey on Saturday demanding that its troops leave in the wake of a military coup that has widespread popular support but which Paris refuses to recognise. The July 26 coup - one of eight in West and Central Africa since 2020 - has sucked in global powers concerned about a shift to military rule across the region. Most impacted is France, whose influence over its former colonies has waned in West Africa in recent years just as popular vitriol has grown. Its forces have been kicked…

Niger’s top court approved the immediate expulsion of France’s ambassador, revoking his diplomatic immunity, according to a request addressed to the court’s president. The development comes after France’s President Emmanuel Macron rejected the ruling junta’s demand to recall his ambassador a month after a coup disrupted relations between the two former allies. The military junta that ousted Niger President Mohamed Bazoum gave French Ambassador Sylvain Itte 48 hours to leave the country last week. The deadline expired on Aug. 28 without France recalling Itte. France says it doesn’t recognize the coup-plotters as the country’s legitimate leaders. Since the July 26…